Watercolor UV Resin Pen Tutorial
We have a simple and beautiful resin craft for you today! Kaelee Rupell of Kaelee’s Kups is back with a fabulous watercolor UV resin pen tutorial for us. Once you learn this technique, you’ll be using it on everything!
If you are new to resin art, creating resin pens is a great project to start with! You learn some basic resin techniques without committing to an entire tumbler. Plus, they are just fun to make! For this watercolor UV resin pen tutorial, Kaelee uses Brea Reese Alcohol Inks, our infamous and beautiful Sterling Snow, and UV Resin to make a beautiful watercolor effect. And the results are gorgeous! You are going to love this one.
Watercolor UV Resin Pen Tutorial
Resin pens have become very popular among artists and their customers. They are a great way to try new techniques that you can later use on tumblers. Since the pens are so much smaller, you don’t have to worry about go through a lot of supplies while you are practicing and experimenting.
And resin pens are a fabulous way to offer your customers an affordable personalized item! Pens make great gift ideas. And they are a fun way for businesses to share their brands. For those of us who already have more tumblers than we have room for, pens are a great way for us to enjoy new designs. And they don’t take up much space!
Other Resin Options
If you haven’t gotten into using UV Resin yet you can still make this pen! UV Resin is amazing because you can complete projects in a fraction of the time it takes to cure traditional resin. But you can absolutely use Artist Resin in place of UV Resin in any project. You will just need to adjust your curing time.
For this project you would just need to combine a small batch of Artist Resin and then mix in your Sterling Snow. Just make sure your batch is 2oz or more or the resin won’t react and cure properly. A good option would be to make several pens at one time. That way you can combine enough resin to get the right reaction. But not waste any of that valuable resin.
To learn more about making pens with traditional resin, check out our post How to Make Resin Pens! There you will see exactly how to use Artist Resin for your pens. And you’ll also find more design inspiration!
Design Variations
As with any of our tutorials, Kaelee’s design is simply meant to inspire you for your own creations. Personally, I absolutely love the greens Kaelee used and am glad she let us know what shades she used. But you can use any color combinations you want! Use what you have on hand or try something completely new.
Either way, this watercolor technique is so fun to do. And it creates unique results each and every time! All you really need are some of your favorite alcohol inks and some rubbing alcohol. Oh, and resin to seal in your beautiful artwork, of course!
Watercolor UV Resin Pen Tutorial
Materials
- Counter Culture DIY UV Resin
- Counter Culture DIY UV Resin White
- Counter culture DIY UV light
- French Blue Pop of Color Shock Paint
- Paint brush
- Fine tip paint brush
- Sterling Snow glitter
- Shimmer Cobalt Green Brea Reese Alcohol Ink
- Mint Shimmer Brea Reese Alcohol Ink
- Neon Green Brea Reese Alcohol Ink
- Brea Reese Pigment Ink Gold
- Protective gloves
- Silicone mat
- Filter mask
- Mixing cups
- medicine cups
- Large Silicone Mixing Sticks
- Glitter Spoon
- refillable gel pen
- sanding block
- 1/4" dowel
- glass of water
- Rubbing alcohol
Instructions
- Start by taking your gel pen apart. Set your pieces aside for reasembly later.
- Remove the clip from the pen using pliers or something similar. Sand the spot down to make the pen smooth. A dremmel works great for this!
- Next, give your pen a light sand with a sanding block or sand paper.
- Now put the pen on the dowel and apply a base coat of the French Blue Pop of Color Shock Paint.
- While your paint drys, add some Sterling Snow glitter to a medicine cup. Then add a combination of the white and clear UV resins and stir well to combine.
- Using a gloved finger, apply the glittered resin to the pen.
- Turn your lamp on and spin your pen underneath it for a minute to begin the curing process. Then place the pen into the cup of water and hold the lamp next to the glass to complete the curing process.
- Once the pen is cured, remove it from the water and dry it off.
- Put a little of each into a medicine cup. Also pour a tiny bit of alcohol into a medicine cup.
- Start with your lightest color and use your fine paint brush to apply little blobs and dabs around the pen. Repeat the same process with the rest of your colors from lightes to darkest. Add the gold in as little touches. Play around with your colors until you are happy with the outcome.
- Then use a little sponge and dip it into the alchol. Dab off the excess alcohol and then gently dab the sponge on the pen to give it the watercolor look.
- Use a gloved finger to apply a layer of the clear UV resin to the pen. Then cure it in the same way you did the first time.
The Finishing Touches
And that’s it, y’all! This is a simple technique that produces complex results. The alcohol inks blend beautifully together while the glitter adds a pretty simmer. And the UV Resin allows the whole pen to cure in a matter of minutes. It doesn’t get much better than that!
A big thanks to Kaelee for sharing her time and talent with us again! If you want to see what Kaelee is up to and see more of her beautiful creations you can find her on Facebook and TikTok. You can also join her VIP Facebook group and head to her Etsy Shop.
You can find more awesome video tutorials like this one on our YouTube channel!
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If you want more inspiration and information we have a Facebook group for that. Join us in Counter Culture DIY Artist Support where we, and other artists, offer ideas, answer questions, and support each other!
Do you have an art project using any of our products that you want to share? Send it to us at [email protected], and we can feature them here!